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?'s about my feeder mice I need advice

epicdoom

epicdoom

New member
I have a question on my colonies. I have little huts for the mice to sleep in. I have one for each mouse in the cage yet what I always find is all the mice packed into one, the others are there for decoration it seems. I know from reading they huddle together for warmth. The problem I have is checking for pinks I have to disturb all of them and destroy the beds they build to check for pinks. So far I found nothing. And am concerned any born are being eaten because they wont stop crowding together. the Question is will the mother vacate the community hut and set up a nest in one of the others to deliver her young or will she just dump them amongst the masses. I have a box set up in each cage with nesting material inside and out so far none of the females have done anything with them. Its been about 30 days since I started the first set up. So far no babies the females look pregnant for the past week or so. They have Lumpy bulging sides in front of the back haunches. I figured since the store I bought them from keeps males and females in the same tank that at least 1 of the 40 females I bought would already be in the motherly way before I got them. knowing the gestation period I should have seen something by now.
 
Well if they had the litters you would be able to tell by the weight loss? And you can usually hear pinkies squeak also. They will look pregnant for quite a while before giving birth.
I would just take out the extra huts, they will all share the same one, will all huddle together and moms will have the babies in the same nest too, they shoud be fine, if they are first time moms they might eat some or all of them, not much you can do but let them learn through trial and error how to be mommies. I would say first time litters get eaten about half the time? And most of the female mice will never do it again, if one does repeat the crime then feed it off but the first time around they just don't really know what they are doing yet.
After they have their babies if you don't need newborn pinks right away I would try to not disturb them especially the first timers. And even if you do try to leave a couple babies in there for them to learn how to be parents.
 
Jen Thanx for your reply I will remove the extra huts I pulled the males till I know whats going on with them. I have read so much on them and found tons of conflicting stuff about such things as leaving the male in or taking him out as well as a host of other info. I figure without the males the females can do whats needed for the young without him looking to mate them every waking second. I tell you as a guy that goes against everything I believe in. LOL
Anyhow I want healthy feeders and would like to get a true time line for delivery of future breeding. I had planed on leaving 4 pinks to be raised till weening for each female and paring them up to avoid as much inbreeding as possible. They will be replenishment stock as I feed off older groups when they no longer productive. It will also give some rotation in and out of breeding for them so there isn't a lot of strain on the females getting pregnant while still nursing.
I will pull all but a few each litter so females can get rid of milk stores. Those I leave will be grown to various stages as needs require for feeding. For rite now I need Pinks and lots of them. My older snakes are eating full size mice there cheap at a $1.65 each at least till I can get things rolling it will do.
The reasons for breeding my own feeders are expense and availability of needed sizes. and Healthy food for my snakes.
 
I have always left the males in with the females and have had no problems if they are eating the babies you will see signs of that (blood on the bedding,pieces of pinkies etc)
Almost all females kill and eat some of there first litter if not all but on the second go around they should be fine. I dont put any kind of box or hut with my colonies when you move it to check on them or get pinkies it puts stress on them most mice will make there own nest out of the bedding you have in there and then it makes it easier to check for pinks you dont have to move the mouse at all. Good Luck.
 
What kind of cage are they in? I like the idea of little huts when I first started out breeding, but now I realize they are big big nusiance. You'll have to clean them every now and then and there is the whole thing about messing up their nest. If I were you I'd take them all out unless you have tanks and they are in a busy room. Also, I believe that taking a male out and reintroducing him will stress the females out. Not to mention if you take him out and put him back when there are babies, he will most likely eat them cause he thinks they aren't his. The males will not constantly mess with the females. Male mice make great dads.
 
I will try leaving the male in can I just put them back now I have each male tank marked so I know what one went with what colony I have removed all the huts and nest box's it sure is easier to just look in on them now they have no hiding spot lol I hated messing with them to check there huts I know that's not good but was my only way to see what was going on. good to know now I can just look in on them without disturbing there beds.I set up a remote camera to pan all the tanks from another room I hope that helps them to remain calm Thanx folks for your replies
 
I don't think the camera thing is neccesary. Lol just go look at them. I'd go ahead and put them back now.
 
Man. Reading these posts make me feel bad for my mice. I clean them every week, and they have babies ALL the time. I just grab all the babies, put them in a cup, put the adults in a bucket, then when I replace the shavings I just make a little indent and put the babies back in, then put the adults back in. I have found that even with hides and things to play in... they just have their babies in the open. And all 5 adults (even the boy) lay on the nest in a big pile on top of the babies.
 
My technique is the same as Alicat. Leave the male in, he won't harm the babies, they are good that way, and yes they do harass the females but it's nature's way that they tend to get pregnant right after giving birth, and by the time new litter is born the older ones are ready to be weaned. I sometime give my mice a TP tube or box tp play in, but they usualy make a little nest in corner for pinkies. I have a pretty hands-off approach with my colonies except for feeding, cleaning and filling water bottles.
 
I don't use hides for mine anymore, just give them a big handful of timothy hay that they shred and make nests with. Usually I can hear the pinks but if I ever need to check it's easy to just poke your finger in the top of the nest and make a little peep hole.
 
Ok I put the males back in watched to make sure they were ok the ladies checked them out a bit and went back to eating. I have been spot cleaning the cages every other day and complete refresh of carefresh every week. changing water and feeding as needed. Other then that I have been leaving them alone except for the last couple days checking for pinks. a few of the females look like there ready to explode and some don't look pregnant at all.
I have lots of nesting stuff in there for them tissues and hay but they seem to like the shred news paper. guess we will see how it goes in the next couple days hopefully I get some pinkies. My colonies are 1 male 3 females X10 set ups in 10 gal tanks. I have a lot of snakes to feed all the local shops are out of pinks so I have to place an order next week if my mice don't drop any by then.
 
Woah, sorry. I forgot that the females are about to drop. Take the males back out. I realize that I just caused some work for you, especially if you cleaned out all the male tanks. But the males will eat the pinkies because they don't realize they are their own offspring. You are gonna have to keep the males out until this first batch of pinkies is either frozen or weaned. Again I apologize for causing you any stress..
 
You CAN just leave them in there and hope for the best. Most of these first litters will probably be eaten anyways, and this way the females get pregnant right after they drop.
 
I disagree about taking the males out, they will be fine in there. I never do it. The first timer females are the ones that eat babies the males hardly ever.
 
ghosthousecorns said:
I disagree about taking the males out, they will be fine in there. I never do it. The first timer females are the ones that eat babies the males hardly ever.
Click to expand...

If you are refering to my comment about taking them back out, I said that because if you take the males out for an extended amount of time and then try to re-introduce them, they will most likely think that the babies are not their own. Even if they really are. Then they will kill them to make sure that their genetics survive the mouse world. Lol

I agree with leaving the males in the colonies after they are established. Right now they aren't established. I haven't had a single male eat any babies to my knowledge yet either.
 
OH the utter confusion Just kidding lol I will leave them in and hope for the best they were only out for a week and are back in the exact colony I pulled them from. It's kind of a shame there food for my snakes there actually pretty cool to watch, And have a better work ethic them most people I know. lol Anyhow Thanx for the info I will be building a rack for them next weekend gonna move them into larger tubs rather then the tanks. Will wait to see if any babies come before I move the mice and move them as I can.
 
Sorry about that. And believe me, you will love your rack(s). They make everything soo much easier and less smelly. And I only have a couple colonies.
 
No problem Rite now I'm feeding from bowls they take the food and scatter it in the Carefresh I have to go in there and clean it out constantly,so it will be nice to not have to do that. Using the Carefresh and a product called goodby odder in the water the smell is not bad at all. It was pretty nasty before I started using those.
 
I still use "bowls" for mine. (peanut butter lids) I feed my mice hog feed which is too small to just throw on top of the wire mesh. Plus my tubs are too deep anyways. Just the ease of being able to pull out the tubs and dump the bedding, or rummage for pinks is enough for the small cost of the rack. I'd like to set up a watering system. Right now I'm using bottles and that get's old.
 
yeah the bottle thing has never been a fun part. I have about 200' of small hose and found a place to get the watering ends and fittings gonna run that to a 5 gal food grade bucket for water. I'm feeding 23 snakes and have space for 50 rite now. I don't breed my snakes there all just my pets some bought from breeders and the rest are rescue.
 
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